


Perfect, Not I

by CanaryWidow



Series: Gracevas Collection [1]
Category: Degrassi, Degrassi the Next Generation
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Original Character - Freeform, also posted on Tumblr, background triles, background zaya, comment please, first f/f fic, holla, i really hope there is no OOC, otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4501527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanaryWidow/pseuds/CanaryWidow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>School has begun, forcing Zoe and Grace to confront their feelings for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect, Not I

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Don't Look Back/Summer Girls.

                “I feel like we haven’t had a break from school,” Tristan pouted as he and Zoe neared the familiar steps of Degrassi.

                Zoe giggled. “We did, Tris. What else do you think we did after hours? Rescue dear friends from creeps?”

                “You, for one, got close to Grace,” Tristan hummed, nonchalantly checking his fingernails.

                “Nice one, Tris,” Zoe rolled her eyes as they checked in their phones at the van. She noticed a certain blue-haired girl was missing, but didn’t give it much thought. “I told her we would speak when school begins,” she admitted, “and I didn’t want to rush into things like—“

The conversation came to a halt.

                “—Miles and I did, I know; I’m the King of Rushing into Things,” Tristan proclaimed dramatically, smiling sadly.

                Zoe patted his shoulder. “I didn’t mean that.”

                “Sure you did.” Then Tristan noticed a flash of blue hair by the stone steps. He gestured towards the steps with a smirk. “There’s your girl,” he pointed Grace out, and Zoe’s heart skipped a beat.

                “She’s not my girl,” Zoe mumbled but started heading over to where Grace sat on the steps, eyes trained elsewhere.

                “Good luck!” Tristan shouted, and she smirked at him from over her shoulder; she got this. As she neared the subject of her affections, she noticed a subtle change. Grace’s wardrobe seemed to brighten up the tiniest bit with a dark red tank and a pair of white cut-off shorts. Her blue strands were tied back from her face in a messy ponytail. Someone else would’ve picked on her split ends or her simplistic clothes. Yet Zoe thought Grace never looked so stunning.

                “Grace,” Zoe called as she neared her. Grace’s head snapped to the left, and when she smirked, Zoe’s knees went weak (she still remembered the weight of Grace’s lips on hers, and the cool metal of her piercings against her face).

                “Zoe,” Grace greeted with her usual dry tone mixed in with something Zoe couldn’t place. “How was your last week of summer? Kiss any more girls?” she asked, patting the slab of stone next to her.

                “Ha-ha,” Zoe harrumphed, delicately lowering herself to sit next to Grace. She smoothed out her outfit, taking a few moments to steady her racing heart. “No, you’re the only one,” she answered.

                Grace remained silent, staring ahead.

                Zoe tried again to instigate a conversation. “What about you? Are you still a lovesick lesbian?” Zoe joked, nudging Grace.

                Grace chuckled. “Don’t be a smartass.” She finally looked at Zoe, which she took as a good sign. Their eyes locked for just a second before Grace coughed and glanced away.

                “I thought you liked me smart,” Zoe teased. “Or was that the trans-cranial direct current stimulation speaking?”

                “You’re still upset about that?” Grace sighed. “Look, it got you to understand science—“

                Zoe bit her lip before she made the daring move to place her hand over Grace’s. “Relax, I was only kidding.”

                Grace’s hand seized before ultimately curling ever so slightly around Zoe’s hand.  “All right, Bill Nye. I expect to see you in Physics today.”

                Zoe wrinkled her nose. “Physics really isn’t my thing; I opted to take Earth and Space Science instead.”

                “Nice,” Grace commented.

Zoe blushed at her compliment. “But maybe you can still help me with that? How about Lola’s after school?” Zoe suggested with a flirty smile.

                “What are we going to study? The awkward teacher introduction?” she snorted. “It’s the first day, Zoe,” Grace retorted.

                “Fine,” Zoe relented. “I just want to talk about…the kiss. And how I liked it. And if you…liked it?” Zoe trailed off with a nervous smile.

                Grace’s expression shifted, becoming more somber. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Zoe,” she considered.

                The smile slipped off of the brunette’s pretty features. “Did you not like it? Come on, Grace, you can tell me the truth—“

                “Were you lying when you said that I make you feel special?” Grace questioned. “If not, why did you continue to go out with Moneybags?”  
                Zoe took a deep breath, anticipating the questions she knew had bloomed in Grace’s head seconds after the kiss—and to think she left Grace hanging for a week. Her stomach clenched at the thought. “Grace—“

                “Hey, what’s taking so long? You promised me the whole Degrassi tour,” a voice teased behind Zoe.

Grace jumped and pulled her hand from under Zoe’s hand. “Liz,” Grace blurted, getting to her feet.

“Liz?” Zoe mouthed before turning around to face the person who had interrupted them. She expected a girl with purple and blonde hair who wore band tees and jeans that hadn’t been washed for weeks. However, standing behind Zoe was a stunning black girl wearing a circle skirt with a floral pattern that Zoe saw in H&M two weeks ago and a matching sweater—definitely not Grace’s usual companion.

“Am I interrupting something? I am, aren’t I? I’m sorry,” Liz apologized. She smiled brightly in Zoe’s direction. “Hi, I’m Liz. I just moved here from Paris,” she said in her distinct American accent, holding out her hand.

“Paris? I was there last summer. Amazing, right?” Zoe replied, grabbing Liz’s outstretched hand. “Is that an American accent?” she pointed out.

“Well, I was born and raised in America, but my dad is a businessman, and we move around a lot,” Liz answered sheepishly. “That’s how I met Grace here; her dad works for mine.”

Zoe glanced at Grace who avoided her eyes. “I didn’t know that,” Zoe answered carefully.

“Liz is in our grade, and both of our dads agreed that I should keep an eye on the new girl,” Grace added.

“Damn, is it that obvious?” Liz grumbled, rolling her eyes.

Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Why are you explaining that to me?” she asked.

Grace scoffed. “You know how uppity you can get without an explanation. Remember—I see the real you.” That last comment felt like a punch to Zoe’s ribs.

Zoe balked, scrambling for something to say without embarrassing herself further in front of Liz.

The sound of the warning bell spurred Liz into action as she slung an arm around Grace’s shoulders. “Come on, I don’t want to be late for class. And you still have to show me the Physics classrooms.” Liz began to drag Grace towards the entrance. “It was nice meeting you, Zoe!” Liz shouted over their shoulders.

“You, too,” Zoe whispered as the full weight of the incident hit her like a truck.

\--

                “She’s not even that pretty,” Tristan commented as he and Zoe watched Liz entertain Grace, Tiny, Maya, and Zig with another wild Parisian tale.

                “Yes, she is,” Zoe corrected glumly. “And half of her wardrobe is from Milan.”

                “Yeah, I was lying; she really is pretty,” he blurted. Zoe glared at him, and he held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I was just trying to make you feel better,” he explained.

                “Well, you failed,” Zoe stabbed at her pasta. “God, what’s wrong with me?”

                “Besides eating carbs?” Tristan asked as he snuck a spoonful of her pasta into his mouth.

                Zoe rolled her eyes. “I mean, what did I do that scared her away? This is exactly what I was afraid of.”

“In her defense, you didn’t give her much of a choice,” Tristan argued. “From her point of view, you called her a lovesick lesbian—“

“Not my best moment,” Zoe cringed.

“—and then practically jumped her bones at the beach. She’s as confused as you are. Maybe she needs longer than a week to figure out her feelings?”

“After you and Miles kissed, how long did it take for the relationship to become…a relationship?” Zoe questioned.

Tristan opened his mouth but a voice beat him to the punch. “About two weeks,” Miles answered as he set down his lunch (Chompy Chicken, of course: one of the many perks of having his own car). “It was mostly me. I mean, one second I was dating Maya, and the next, I was shoving my tongue down Tristan’s throat.”

“I don’t remember any tonguing,” Tristan interjected, blushing at the tips of his ears.

Miles smirked. “Maybe I should remind you.”

“Down, boy,” Tristan teased, but Zoe could tell that he was crushing once more on the Hollingsworth boy.

Zoe stole one of Miles’ fries. “Do you think I scared her off, Miles?” she asked. “I need another view, and you’re all I have.”

Miles held a hand to his heart. “Aww, how sweet? You still care?”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “I dumped you, remember? Now, focus.”

Miles doled out a share of his fries to Tristan. “I think you were very straightforward,” he phrased his words carefully, “but I think Grace knew that. For God’s sake, you practically suggested a threesome the night of the party!”

“What?” Tristan choked on his fries. “You did what?”

“Don’t give me that look, Tristan,” Zoe bristled. “So, what do you think I should do?”

“Wait,” he responded simply.

“Wait? But what if Liz…” she trailed off as her gaze returned to sight of Liz and Grace sitting so close to each other, laughing.

“You don’t know Liz’s sexuality,” Tristan reminded her. “You should wait, like we said so.”

“Fine, I’ll let her come to me.”

“Not only that, but you have to leave Liz alone,” Miles added with a knowing look.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “What would I do to perfect Liz?”

“Do we have to relive that whole Paris trip? Maya and the dress?” Tristan mentioned.

“That was different,” Zoe argued without an avail.

“We know you and your jealously issues. Promise us that you won’t sabotage her.”

“Fine,” she relented but her gaze didn’t leave Liz and Grace until lunch ended.

\--

                Everyone was in love with Liz (including the stony Ms. Pill). The girl was a visionary: smart (she had to leave Degrassi halfway through the day to take several university-level courses), athletic (she led the girls’ basketball team to their first victory in twenty years), and kind (she won their class presidency and singlehandedly organized an effort to plant a garden in honor of Degrassi’s decreased). And that was only her first week.

                Zoe slammed her locker and began her tedious walk to the student parking lot where Miles was waiting for her. She avoided the eyes of people she had done wrong and smiled at the ones who had pitied her. She waved at Zig and Maya, wondering where Grace was. Probably with Liz.

                Zoe Rivas wasn’t a quitter; that made her weak, and she wasn’t weak. Weakness is for the brokenhearted (which she was _not_ ) and the naïve. She had to keep strong and believe that one day Grace would become comfortable enough to talk to her.

                She turned the corner and ran into Liz, causing her to drop all of her books and papers. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Zoe apologized, cursing her luck as she remembered her promise to Tristan and Miles.

                “Sorry! I was the one texting like an idiot,” Liz corrected, gesturing to her phone on the ground. They both bent down to retrieve Liz’s items. “Zoe, right?”

                “Yeah,” she replied and winced at how vulnerable and small she sounded. Her eyes caught the name of the person Liz was texting: Grace. Her heart sank as she came to a cold realization: Liz and Grace were closer than friends. That was it; she had no chance now. She had done exactly what she had hoped to avoid: rushing into something and ultimately losing the best person in her life. She shoved the remaining papers into Liz’s direction and stood quickly, feeling the tears prick at her eyes. “I have to go. It was nice seeing you,” she lied as she began to reverse course.

                Liz grabbed Zoe’s arm. “Please, wait,” she pleaded. “Just go to the Biology/Chemistry class,” Liz instructed.

                “I have to go home,” Zoe insisted and began to pull away from Liz’s grip.

                Liz gripped harder. “Just go!” she lowered her voice so the cameras wouldn’t pick up her words. “Someone is waiting for you.”

                Zoe’s eyes gleamed. “Someone? Like Grace?” she whispered back.

                Liz grinned. “Why don’t you go and find out?”

                Zoe frowned when she remembered the long text conversation she noticed on Liz’s phone. “What about you and Grace?”

                Liz raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

                “You’re dating her, aren’t you?” Zoe winced at her brassy words.

                Liz laughed. “You thought I was—oh, that’s why you’ve been giving me the death glare. I’m not dating Grace,” she said. “I have a boyfriend back in Paris. Two years strong.”

                “Oh,” Zoe started, sheepish. “I’m sorry for assuming. I—the old me would’ve done something worse than glare. Like start a rumor that you don’t bathe due to the habits you made in Paris,” she supplied.

                “Mean girl turned good,” Liz remarked. “Never knew Grace liked them like that. Now go before she chickens out and leaves!” she gently pushed Zoe down the hallway, and she speed-walked (since running was prohibited) down the hall with a renewed skip in her step.

                She neared the same classroom where they took Grade 10 Science together and smiled softly. “I knew you were secretly a softie,” Zoe exclaimed as she entered the classroom.

                Grace pushed herself off of the wall she leaned up against on the other side of the classroom. “No, this was the only classroom that didn’t have cameras or wasn’t locked.”

                “Sure,” Zoe drawled, setting her bag on one of the tables. She started to step closer and closer.

                “I wouldn’t set your bag here—the Anatomy and Physiology class dissected dog testes and penises on those tables last period,” Grace warned.

                Zoe shrieked and removed her bag from the table. “Really? That’s disgusting!”

                Grace nodded. “They looked like Lima beans,” she commented, walking over to hand Zoe the disinfectant. “Here.”

                Zoe tossed her bag and the bottle in a chair. “Uh-huh, you’re not getting out of this conversation. I’ll deal with that later. I’m assuming you want to talk?”

                “Sure, since you’re no longer convinced that I’m dating Liz,” Grace said.

                “I wasn’t convinced,” Zoe protested, crossing her arms. “You were the one putting on a show,” she accused.

                “I was just being nice to the girl. Moving around a lot can hurt a girl. You of all people should know that.”

                Zoe’s face softened. “Now I remember why you’re so special to me,” she whispered, stroking Grace’s face. “You’re so pretty.”

                Grace snorted. “I bathed in the blood of my enemies to maintain this youthful glow. It’s just me, Zoe.”

                “I know,” Zoe brushed her hair to the side.

                “I’m no saint, Zoe,” Grace admitted. “I’m not going to turn this into a Lifetime movie by listing my flaws because you’ve seen them, and you’ll see more. But I need to know something before we move on with whatever the hell this is.” She sighed. “Will you accept me for who I am? Not perfect?”

                “I’m not perfect either. But who made me feel comfortable in my own skin? Who made me realize things about myself I never knew? Who knows me better than me? You’re that person for me, and I want to be that person for you. You’re definitely not perfect—“

                “Thanks,” Grace replied drily.

                “—but you’re you. The girl I never thought I would like in a million years, but she has shown me that anything is possible.” She took a deep breath. “That is, if she wants to be my girlfriend?”

                “You have to stop talking in that creepy third person tense,” Grace remarked.

                Zoe laughed. “Is that a yes?”

                Grace bit her lip. “I don’t know.” Zoe’s face fell. “I mean, the way you kissed me without consent turned me off but that’s something I’m about to do anyways. What can I say? I’m a hypocrite.” And Grace surged closer and locked lips with Zoe.

                Zoe and Grace gripped at each other as they kissed harder and harder, never getting enough of each other. As the sparks flew, they were certain—Grace was Zoe’s, and Zoe was Grace’s.

\--

                Zoe knocked on the window of Miles’ car, feeling bad about leaving him out in the parking lot to wait for her. “Hello? Miles? Why did he have to get tinted windows?” she wondered aloud, pounding on the car window. “Miles! MILES!”

                Finally, the car window rolled down and revealed his flushed face. “Oh, there you are!” Miles panted. “I was looking all over for you. What took you so long?”

                Zoe craned her neck to try and peek in. “What’s going on in there? Is someone in there with you?”

                Miles stuck his head further out and blocked her view. “Nothing. What happened to you?”

                Zoe grinned. “Grace and I are officially dating,” she announced.

                Something shuffled in the backseat, and Tristan popped his head out of the window. “Shut up!”

                “Tristan!” she shouted.

                Miles covered his face, embarrassed. “It’s not what it looks like. He needed a ride home, and we were waiting out here for you.”

                “Yeah, that’s what’s going on,” Tristan chimed in immediately.

                “Sure,” Zoe said, opening the door and plopping herself into the passenger seat. She eyed their current position in the backseat. “Why are you in the backseat?”

                Miles shrugged, climbing into the driver’s seat uncomfortably. “More comfortable.” He started up the car. “So, where is Grace?” he asked, reversing the car.

                “Riding home with Liz.”

                “And you’re not insanely jealous?” Tristan asked.

                “No, because she didn’t spend the last hour making out with Liz, did she?” she smirked coyly.

                Tristan whistled lowly. “Someone’s a bit frisky,” he cooed.

                Zoe laughed. “And I bet Miles’ trust fund that it isn’t me who’s frisky…Tristan, your shirt is inside out.”

                “…oh….maybe we can double date?”

\--

 

               

**Author's Note:**

> I really did the dissection with my A&P class. Dog testes and penises are...eww. I'm shuddering just thinking about it.


End file.
